Shocking as it may come, but in a gruesome incident a five-year-old boy was murdered for human sacrifice in a village in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday afternoon. The accused, Tirumala Rao used to practice witchcraft and was on a lookout for a human sacrifice.

The accused Rao, who is in his mid 30s, is a resident of the same village, Pokuru under Voletivaripalem mandal, was caught and set ablaze by the villagers after the incident came to light.

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Rao, had picked up the boy from an anganwadi (child care centre) and taken him to his house, where he preformed the rituals and beheaded the boy. After beheading, he collected the blood and sprinkled it all over the house.

When the boy's mother went to look for him at the anganwadi, she was told that Roa had taken him. Accompanied with villagers, she went to the house of the accused. On finding the house locked, the villagers broke open the door and found the boy's dead body.

After a manhunt by the villagers, Roa was caught, thrashed and tied to a pole and set ablaze after pouring kerosene on him. The police rushed to the spot and rescued Roa, who was admitted to a local hospital and later shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in the district headquarter of Ongole, for treatment.